The county recently approved a contract with a construction company to restore Pod C, which was damaged last summer during an hours-long disturbance involving more than 100 inmates, authorities said.

There have also been escapes and some inmates were mistakenly released from the county's facilities, either because of faulty doors or windows, or errors by employees, authorities have said.

Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis speaks to inmates during a media tour of the jail.

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Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis speaks to inmates during a media tour of the jail.

During a news conference Friday, Sheriff Tyrone Lewis said 20 employees were either fired, resigned, been demoted or reassigned because of the problems.

"There were a lot of violations that were broken. There was a lot of training ignored. We had to take action in order to move forward," Lewis said.

As part of the improvements, a new computer system was installed, which eliminates the need for some records to be kept by hand. The cost for the system is estimated at $300,000, Lewis said.

"This system will eliminate access and human error. It will help us keep track, or better track, of inmates and record-keeping," Lewis said.

Lewis gave a tour of the downtown jail to 16 WAPT News and other local media on Friday.

"We were able to connect and strengthen our relationship with the Board of Supervisors to get approval to make some more repairs -- not only to the Raymond Detention Center, but to this facility as well that's aging also," Lewis said. "We have gotten with the Board of Supervisors to be able to do an assessment of this building to fix all of the windows to make them escape-proof."

Lewis said he's also created a new research division using existing personnel.